In the petrochemical plant industry, it is regularly necessary to clean various conduits and vessels to remove any accumulating buildup on their interior surfaces. This buildup can comprise constituents of the content of the conduit in addition to foreign matter depositing onto interior surfaces. To clean contaminated conduits and vessels often requires shutting down the associated production line and at least partial disassembly of the conduit or vessel being cleaned. A typical cleaning method is to use a pressurized and heated fluid stream to dissolve or dislodge the accumulation from the solid interior surfaces of the vessel. Hydro-blasting is one such typical pressurized fluid stream cleaning method where the vessel (e.g., a heat exchanger) is opened at both ends and the interior is hydro-blasted from one open end while the fluid effluent, usually still under some pressure, emerges from the other open end. However, because the liquid effluent can be contaminated with toxic materials, the effluent from the operation must be collected and properly disposed of as a toxic waste stream. Often it is not possible to contain the effluent at the location of the vessel, and the vessel must be disassembled further and the internal components moved to another more appropriate site to perform the hydro-blasting operation. This additional disassembly and removal of vessel components increases down time and cost of the cleaning operation. It would be useful in the field to have a means to reduce the number of situations in which it is necessary to disassemble the vessel being serviced to remove the components to be cleaned.
The industry has long recognized aspects of this problem and has been motivated to find solutions to them. For example, Tiegs et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,392) disclose an apparatus for removing contaminates from a caustic washing solution. The device of the Tiegs et al. patent comprises a filtration tank housing a pump. The pump has a filter bag disposed on its outflow which collects particulates. However, the Tiegs et al. device does not collect all of the effluent, only the particulates. Also, the Tiegs device cannot be used in place, for example, on the opening of a refinery heat exchanger vessel. Additionally, the Tiegs device requires a pump. As another example, Mallow, Sr. et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,009) disclose a device for containing and redirecting fluid from a down-fitting on a section of a pipe. The device of the Mallow, Sr. et al. comprises a bag with an opening in its top for attaching to the down-fitting of a pipe. After placement over the down-fitting, the cover to the fitting is removed. When the Mallow, Sr. et al. device is practiced, the bag is vertically suspended from the fitting. However, the Mallow, Sr. device cannot be used in a horizontally to attach to an end fitting or an inline fitting. Therefore, it would be further useful in the field to have a device that can collect all of the effluent, and that can be used in place on a vessel or pipe end fitting or inline fitting.